Scars that never heal
by x-xkatkit27x-x
Summary: When Sally enters the magical world of Hogwarts, she doesn't know what to make of it. She has always believed that being a witch makes her a freak, but is she a freak, or is she just special?
1. Chapter 1A New World

_She sat huddled in a corner, hiding. What had she done? She hadn't meant to do it. Or had she? The little girl seemed to be around the age of six or seven, her face dirty but with white streaks down it from where numerous tears had fallen. She just didn't understand? What was wrong with her? Was she some kind of freak? The little girl didn't know, but she was just about to find out._

"Why are you sitting all alone?" a kind voice said. The words echoed in her mind. She had heard the same words being asked gently before, and she wasn't ready for them. She looked up at the person who the voice belonged to, shocked and slightly angry, as though the person was playing an evil trick on her.

Two kind, brown eyes looked down at her. They belonged to a girl of around sixteen, who's hair was a mass of brown waves and her robes looked as though they had come straight out of the ironing. They had not a single stain or crease in them. The smaller girl looked at the robes, and then down at her own shabby ones. The older student saw her looking and smiled.

"I use a special spell to keep my robes immaculately neat and clean. Here, let me try on your robes," said the girl, her voice so gentle and compassionate that the small girl was touched. She was embarrassed by the girl's kindness and shook her head sadly.

"Oh, please!" exclaimed the older girl, seeing through the child's embarrassment. "It would help me if you let me help you, I'm practising my non-verbal spells and as this particular spell is quite difficult it's hard to do non-verbally, so I need all the practise I can get."

The little girl didn't know what 'non-verbal' spells were, but the girl's reasoning seemed quite acceptable so she let her wave her wand at her, making her usually scruffy robes look neat and tidy. She beamed at the bigger girl.

"Come with me," the girl said, taking hold of the little girl's hand and dragging her gently into a compartment. There sat two girls, one with bright ginger hair, and the other with dull blonde hair. There was also a boy with dark brown hair, clutching a toad in his hands, which was wriggling fruitlessly, as though trying to get out of the boy's hands and into the wonderful word outside. That was a bit how the little girl felt too.

The bigger girl let go of her hand, smiling at her. "Now," she said, "I've got to go to a different compartment because I'm a prefect. I'll be out soon, but until then I'm going to leave you with Ginny, Luna and Neville. They are very nice and will take care of you well. Bye you lot!"

"See you, Hermione!" answered Ginny, Luna and Neville cheerily. "Bye," muttered the girl quietly.

The girl sat shyly opposite Ginny, as she seemed the most normal out of the three children. The girl with blonde hair was looking at her with large protruding eyes, making her feel awkward, and the boy called Neville was struggling to keep hold of the toad. But Ginny looked normal, her ginger hair bouncing on her shoulders, her eyes dancing merrily. She thought that she looked very pretty and nice indeed.

"Hello," said Ginny. "I haven't seen you around here before. Are you a first year?" The girl nodded. She felt relieved, especially as Luna had stopped staring at her and was absorbed in a magazine.

"What's your name?" asked Ginny, interested.

"Sally," she said quietly.

"Have you got any brothers or sisters in this school?"

"I haven't got any brothers or sisters at all."

"You lucky thing! Only one of my brothers goes here now, but I'm the youngest of seven kids, and I'm the only girl! Do you know how rubbish it is to get all of your clothes passed down to you, especially when they are horrible boys clothes!"

Sally gave a false giggle. She didn't think she was lucky at all to have no siblings. A sibling meant someone to keep you company… someone to play with… someone to love… Sally knew this because she had felt it before. Ginny didn't know how lucky she was.

_The little boys and girls were all playing together. They skipped around the garden joyfully, screaming cries of delight. Sally had tears of joy in her eyes from where the wind had whipped her face. The day was windy, but sunny, like a refreshing day on the beach. Sally liked it this way. It was neither too hot nor too cold – just prefect for running around and playing. She was the oldest of all of the children, but ran around with them all the same, picking up the smallest child and spinning him around as though he was lighter than a feather. Those were the good old days… But Sally could barely remember the good old days any more…_

Sally wasn't looking forward to going to a new school. It was a school of freaks – she knew this. All of the children had magical powers. Sally hadn't believed in magic since she was very small, but suddenly every seemed to make sense to her. That day that a strange old man had come to tell her that she was different had been a great relief to her. She didn't know why, but it seemed as though a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders, even though the truth was hardly the best of truths to her. You might think that being told that you had magical powers would make you feel special, but Sally just felt like a freak.

But at least she knew the truth now. At least she knew that there was a reason why all of those strange things happened to her, why she was always getting into trouble for strange reasons, and getting out of them in such strange ways.

Ginny had stopped questioning Sally and was merely looking out of the train window for the first glimpse of Hogwarts. Sally did the same. She knew what Hogwarts would look like. It would be a huge dreary tower, full of cobwebs and rats and vampire bats. But when she actually saw the castle she gasped with surprise. The school looked, she didn't know how describe it… like a home she had never had the privilege to live in.

Ginny, hearing the gasp, smiled at her. "What were you expecting it to look like?" she said, staring fondly at the tall building.

"I don't know… just – not so comfortable."

The school was made of many turrets which stood out like skyscrapers. The grounds were made of the most emerald-green grass Sally had ever seen, and rising out of the ground were six hoops on poles, which, as Sally later would find out, were Quidditch hoops. And the most beautiful thing about the castle which Sally could see from her seat, had to be the lake. It was crystal clear and smooth, not a ripple to be seen. The grounds and castle were reflected into the lake like a picture… the most wonderful, magical picture she had ever seen.


	2. Chapter 2All Alone

"_Why are you sitting all alone?" the voice said quietly, calmly. After having no human contact for a week, the little girl was so surprised to hear a voice which sounded so kind, so calm._

_He looked around the room, and the child's face fell. She thought that he had come to save her, to take her away from this dreadful place, to help her. But now that he saw what she had done he would never understand. He would either leave her there to die, or else hand her into the police, or a mental hospital. The little girl wanted to die, and most seven-year-olds would never comprehend that feeling. But, then again, she had coped with so much more that most children of her age._

"_What have you done?" the man asked sadly, unhappily, but not angrily. The little girl looked up._

"Please, sir," she sobbed, "do you have any food? I haven't eaten for a whole week."

"_Of course," he said, looking at her with concerned eyes. _Why would anybody be worried about me_, she thought, _after what I've done. _She was astonished that this man would actually get her something to eat when she had done something so terrible._

_With a wave of something that appeared to be a polished stick, the man produced a plate of food out of nowhere. The child was astonished, she couldn't believe her eyes, and for a moment she was sure that she was dreaming. _Or maybe, _she thought hopefully, _I have died after all. _The girl ate the food in silence, too hungry to utter her thanks, but groaning with content as the food slipped into her stomach. She felt refreshed, and she regained some of her calmness, her tears dying down._

_When she had finished the man sat in the corner with her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. She looked up into his eyes, and the man noticed how round and innocent they seemed. From that moment on, he knew that this young child had done nothing wrong._

"_What's your name?" he asked kindly, smiling slightly at her, and she smiled back, the first smile she had given for a very long time._

"_Sally," she said, "Sally Smith."_


End file.
